Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79. | | | | Forth, the River | | The Forth | | John B. Greenshields |
| | (From Home)
BUT where the Forth’s broad river sweeps the plain, | |
| Moving to wed, fair stream, the eastern main, | |
| Yet nobler scenes unfold,—a crowded port, | |
| Where Commerce, sire of empire, holds his court; | |
| The dark blue Frith, where many a whitened sail | 5 |
| Rests in the roads, or, pausing, courts the gale; | |
| The isles that on its breast repose serene, | |
| Here gray with rocks, there softening into green; | |
| The expanse beyond, which owns no bounding line | |
| But that where sea and sky their tints combine; | 10 |
| Save where, illumined by the westering ray, | |
| The rock-walled Bass ascends, or humbler May; | |
| And, lovelier still, the winding northern shore, | |
| With hamlets, towns, and castles, brightened o’er, | |
| Adorned with fields from waste by culture won, | 15 |
| That gently swell to meet the summer sun; | |
| While o’er their heads the giant Lomonds rise,— | |
| Proud sons of earth that threaten yet the skies. | | | | |
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